Performance

Bowie sought to perform in the format of a stadium concert with
less focus on elaborate staging and more focus on the musicians in
his band. The stage featured a number of platforms, some extending
into the audience, as well as multiple video-screens projecting
artistic images and live footage of the concert along with many
colored lights for effects. The stage was typically placed at one
end of the stadium or Arena with seating in the stands or on the field
itself with a back-stage area on the far side of the stage.

The musicians were dressed in casual but colorful outfits; nearly
each musician had a set of outfits in different colors, such as
Bowie's cut-off shirt and kneckerchief or Gail Ann Dorsey's dress.
Musicians were free to move about the stage as their instruments
permitted with wireless amplification, though Bowie and Dorsey
interacted most often as part of the acts.

Each concert began with an introduction on the main video-screen,
during which the band would enter the stage and prepare the opening
number. After the opener, Bowie would greet the audience with the
flexible line, "Hello, [city name], you crazy bunch of
motherfuckers" as a sign of welcoming. The performances, between
the somewhat staged pieces, were informal often with a dialog
between Bowie and his audience, jokes, band introductions, and the
occasional "Happy Birthday To
You".

The interpretations presented often a heavier and more complex
sound than those of the album releases to suit the band for which
the Reality album had been written; a more dynamic
"Rebel Rebel" which later saw a release
as a bonus track was arranged as an opener which included notably
some audience participation, though on a few occasions "New Killer Star" or "The Jean Genie" were played first. Use of
audience vocals appear in a number of songs, most notably in
interpretations of "China Girl", in which
Bowie first invited the audience to sing on their own, only to
inevitably fail, and then restarted the song singing it on his own.
The process occurred somewhat vice-versa during performances of
"All the Young Dudes", in which
Bowie's voice was somewhat out of range to sing the chorus.